Jan 13 2011
Parents, Teachers, and Activists Debate Education in Los Angeles
Compton’s McKinley Elementary School has found itself at the center of the on-going national debate on education. Touching off this latest battle is the so-called “Parent Trigger” option, outlined in The Parent Empowerment Act of 2010, which recently passed California’s state legislature by a slim but bipartisan majority. Under the trigger option a majority of parents whose students are enrolled in a school deemed by the California Department of Education (CDE) as “chronically underperforming,” can petition that school to enact one of four intervention models. These intervention models are replacing the school principal; exerting some control over staffing and budget; closing the school completely and sending students to a nearby, better performing school; or establishing a charter school in place of the existing school. This final, and most drastic option, is what Parent Revolution chose as the method to effect change in the struggling Compton Unified School District. Parent Revolution is a non-profit organization with ties to the charter school movement. However, shortly after the group delivered the petition signed by more than 60% of parents, the McKinley staff and teachers unions leveled allegations of intimidation and deception during the effort to amass the required signatures. Parent Revolution countered with its own allegation that the staff spread misinformation about who could be enrolled at the replacement charter school.
At the behest of the California Board of Education (CBE), the state’s attorney’s general will conduct an investigation into both sides of the dispute to determine any wrongdoing. But it is this very body on which sat Ben Austin, the Executive Director of Parent Revolution, that is, until he and others were just replaced by Governor Brown with pro-teachers union members. Further complicating things is that the CBE has yet to vote on the final regulation and language of the Parent Empowerment Act.
McKinley is comprised of roughly 60% Latino and 40% African-American students and ranked in the bottom 10% of similar schools. But it has become a closely watched case-study for pro-charter school reformers throughout the country, including former Obama Administration Chief of Staff and Chicago Mayoral candidate, Rahm Emanuel. States around the country, including Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, West Virginia and Maryland are considering enacting laws similar to the Parent Trigger.
GUESTS: Gabe Rose, Deputy Director of Parent Revolution, A J Duffy, President of the United Teachers of Los Angeles
Find out more at www.parentrevolution.org and www.utla.net.
5 Responses to “Parents, Teachers, and Activists Debate Education in Los Angeles”
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Pretty shocking denial of democratic process. Gabe Rose says in this interview that the backlash occurred “when this all became public”.
That is the crux of the problem with Parent Revolution’s version of parent “empowerment”. If this was really about parents taking a leadership role in the future direction of their school, this would have been PUBLIC from the beginning, allowing EVERY parent to participate in discussing EVERY option allowed under the law. This is a diversion of public dollars into private hands orchestrated by an entity invested in only one of the four options: charter schools.
Nothing about the McKinley process was about giving power to parents. It was about taking power from the school district and handing that power to Parent Revolution and their deep pocket backers.
And since when is the PTA the enemy of the parent community? Parent Revolution created that division between parents. It’s the oldest trick in the book: divide and conquer.
The SBE and the legislature need to either repeal the parent trigger or need to create new rules — with real parent input.
Note: I am a parent, I have no affiliation with any teachers’ unions. Just years of experience in PTA, on Site Councils and in the trenches working hard in open and collaborative ways to rescue PI schools in my hometown.
In addition, the claim by Parent Revolution and former Senator Gloria Romero that a public process would have induced threats against parents is a red herring. Just because it has been repeated by those who kept the process a secret does not make it true.
Let’s see some real journalists (and that does not count the sycophantic LA Weekly) challenge these claims.
According to Part VII of Celerity Educational Group’s 2009 Form 990 Vielka McFarlane pays herself a whopping $193,442.00 a year in salary. Privatization pusher Ben Austin makes well over $15,000 a month for trying to convert public schools into privatized charters. That ladies and gentlemen, is the motivating factor behind dubious trigger laws.
What’s more, Celerity Educational Group discriminates against children with special needs. Their special education numbers are abysmal and they outsource special education, separating these children from their siblings and further stigmatizing them. For references and documentation on Celerity’s practices see:
http://rdsathene.blogspot.com/2010/12/astroturf-spawns-ever-more-astroturf.html
Further, Celerity is also the school famous for firing teachers for the “crime” of reading a poem about Emmit Till. Their reactionary revisionist administrators had the unmitigated bigotry to suggest Till somehow deserved his fate.
http://firedoglake.com/2007/03/21/la-charter-school-emmett-till-deserved-to-die/
Parent Revolution is funded by the Gates, Broad, Annenberg, and Walton (Wallmart) foundations. Their sole reason for existence is increasing market share for charter-voucher schools. Social justice activists everywhere should be horrified by this corporate charter takeover in the guise of some disgruntled parents.
If your district has evidence that charter schools are more successful, then why not allow the public to build them? Please help spread the facts about charter schools. If you are or have been a parent of a charter school child, then go to http://www.mykidsschool.net and leave a review of your school so other can see if its right or wrong for them. Be heard.